Suspected Scheme to Target Belgian Premier Prevented

Belgium's authorities have detained three individuals accused of conspiring to carry out an strike on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.

Prosecutors characterized the reported plot as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and additional elected representatives.

During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the premier's personal dwelling, investigators discovered a suspected improvised explosive device and proof that the accused were planning to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.

While the intended targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was one of them.

"The news of a planned attack directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot wrote in a post on online platforms on Thursday.

"It highlights that we are facing a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.

The three suspects taken into custody on suspicion of plotting a terrorist killing and engagement in the operations of a jihadist network all reside in the city of Antwerp, according to the prosecutor's office. They were had birth years in the early 2000s.

On the evening of the arrests, one of the individuals was let go, while the remaining two were still being questioned and scheduled to appear in court on the following day.

Legal authorities stated that the suspects were detained after a judge directed raids of their residences in the city by police officers backed by bomb detection canines.

In the course of these investigations that they discovered a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on Thursday.

Raids also found a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted.

Fransen said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in Belgium this year - surpassing the full amount of cases in 2024.

Earlier this year, five people were convicted for a previous year's plan to attack De Wever while he was acting as the city's chief executive.